The Solid Gold Kidnapping
| Special = | Appearance = | Also = | Guest = | Co = | With = | Uncredited = | Uncertain = | Producer = Michael Gleason | Writer = | Teleplay = Larry Alexander | Story = Alan Caillou and Larry Alexander | Director = Russ Mayberry | Prodfilm =39704 | Prodep =45188 & 45189 | Filmair =17 November 1973 | Epair = 11 January 1975http://www.pazsaz.com/million.html | Original = | Prev = Wine, Women and War | Next = "Population Zero" | Related = }} Summary US Ambassador Scott is kidnapped by an international kidnap gang and a ransom of $1.5 million is demanded. Steve is assigned the case of identifying who is responsible for the kidnap and rescuing the Ambassador. He soon locates the Ambassador in a remote ancient Mayan temple in the Yucatán Peninsula, and frees him after a brief struggle. "]] Back in Washington Steve is assigned another kidnapping case. Leading US international negotiator William Henry Cameron is taken from a Paris hospital by the same organization that seized Ambassador Scott. This time the ransom demand is a massive $1 billion in gold. When one of the members of the kidnap gang, Roger Ventriss, is murdered during the capture by an embittered colleague (Julian Peck) this leads to the only potential lead. Scientist Dr. Erica Bergner has developed a new method of transferring brain cells - and therefore memory - from one human to another. She offers to be the recipient of cells from the dead Ventriss in the hope that this will lead to her identifying where Cameron has been taken. Whilst the US government prepares to ship the gold ransom from Fort Knox, Steve and Dr. Bergner travel to Lucerne, Switzerland in response to images that Dr. Bergner has seen following the cell implant. There Steve survives an attempt on his life before meeting the Contessa de Rojas at a Casino. The Contessa had been the link between the kidnap gang and Cameron and following further attempts on his life Steve forces her to betray Peck who is captured. Later, Dr. Bergner begins to suffer side effects to the brain cell transplant but she is eventually able to lead Steve and Oscar to a freighter. Here Steve locates Cameron and is able to free him. He also captures the Chairman of "the Company". Trivia *''The Solid Gold Kidnapping'' orignally aired as a 90-minute made-for-TV movie. When the show was released into syndication, this movie was padded out with additional scenes taken from later episodes and split into two one-hour parts. This makes the episodes somewhat long and drawn-out; not to mention that the added scenes cause continuity errors. The recycling of footage is much more noticeable and choppy on this occasion than with the re-edits of the pilot movie and Wine, Women and War. *The end credits of the original telefilm retain the song specially composed for "Wine, Women and War" entitled "The Six Million Dollar Man", and performed by Dusty Springfield. This was the song's final use, as Oliver Nelson's theme would replace it completely when the weekly series began. *The syndicated episodes of this movie do not use the opening credits in their original form. The opening credits from the series is used instead. Part 1's closing credits use the standard Six Million Dollar Man theme music, while Part 2 ends with the "Six Million Dollar Man" song sung by Dusty Springfield. Part 1, however, retains a credit for the song, even though it is not heard in the first episode. Since the syndicated version of Wine, Women and War omits the Springfield song, Part 2 of the re-edited Solid Gold Kidnapping is the only episode to use the Springfield song. *Footage taken from a later episode includes: Clark Templeton O'Flaherty. *The footage that shows what looks like an infinite hallway of computer banks at "OSI Headquarters", is taken from the 1970 Universal Studios film Colossus: The Forbin Project. *There is a slight similarity between Steve Austin's first mission in this movie, and the one he embarks upon in the Martin Caidin novel, High Crystal. The setting is similar in both — Austin is sent in to investigate a pyramid in Mexico. But the similarity ends there. *The "bionic" sound effect is not heard in either the original telefilm or in the syndicated version. * The telefilm offers a rare (possibly unique) look at Austin's NASA jacket, which he is wearing when he arrives at the hospital and is briefed by Oscar. The back of the Jacket is covered with patches from various NASA missions, including one on his left breast side that appears to be from Apollo 2, a mission that never occurred. The main Apollo logo that covers much of the back is the same logo that the real-life NASA used for its Apollo series. * This film marks the first time that Oscar is shown talking on the telephone to the never-identified, never seen "Mr. Secretary". * Austin reveals a little bit about his past, suggesting he might have some experience as a gambler, when he is able to figure out that the number sequence 17, 34, 6 corresponds to the adjacent numbers on a roulette wheel. "It's part of my checkered past" he says, dismissively. He also showed his casino skills in Wine, Women and War. His recurring interest in football (see "One of Our Running Backs is Missing") is reflected when he jokingly calls out "hike!" upon first hearing the numbers. * As with the previous telefilm, Austin's bionic eye is presented differently than it is in the series, with Austin's night vision depicted as a green-filtered view, and this time without the eye close-up used in Wine, Women and War. But see "Nitpicks", below. Nitpicks * In the re-edited 2-part version, the opening sequence showing Peck giving a briefing, and again later when Oscar briefs Steve, the actors' mouths do not match the dialog being heard. This error occurs several other times during the re-edited episodes. * The fictional London Airport is an unusual place. Not only is it apparently located adjacent to a seaport, but for some reason one of its phone booths is located in the middle of a parking lot, blocking a parking stall and rendering two more extremely difficult to pull out of. (These oddities may be seen when Oscar gives Mel the job of babysitting the gold shipment, which occurs in the final minutes Part 1 and the start of Part 2 of the re-edited version of the film). * Austin uses the nightvision of his bionic eye to examine the Contessa's bedroom, including her passport. The only problem is the room actually has more than enough light for someone to see and read without the need for the bionic eye. * When Erica has her dream about Cameron's kidnapping, she sees things that Roger (whose memories she is reliving) could not possibly have seen, such as the guard's point of view as he's shot and Cameron going to answer the door. Novelization The Solid Gold Kidnapping, like its predecessor, was adapted as a novel, this time by Evan Richards. It would be followed by several other episode adaptations throughout the run of the series. See The Solid Gold Kidnapping (novel). References Solid Gold Kidnapping, The 002